The analysis of financial performances of venture capital investment trusts and venture capital investment trusts listed in BIST in Turkey

The purpose of the study is to analyze the financial performance of venture capital investment trusts listed in BIST in Turkey, both by using ratio analyses and using TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) which is one of the multi-criteria decision making methods. Firstly, the concept of venture capital, the development of venture capital in Turkey, the principles of venture capital investment trusts and the information on venture capital investment trusts listed in BIST are presented in the study. Subsequently, the financial performances of 6 venture capital investment trusts listed in BIST and currently operating in Turkey are analyzed by using the liquidity, activity, financial structure and profitability ratios from 2016 to 2021, both on a company basis and comparatively. The average financial ratios of the venture capital investment trust sector have gained great importance in terms of analysis since the collection of analysable data in the Public Disclosure Platform (in Turkish: Kamuyu Aydınlatma Platformu - KAP) system started in 2016, and when the financial ratios of the companies included in the study were calculated, the results were very different from each other and from the generally accepted ratios. Therefore, in order to analyze the data obtained in a significant way, our study started in 2016 which was also the year for data collection of the KAP system and it was considered approriate to use the time series for the years 2016-2021 since it was aimed to work with the annual financial values of the companies. The financial statements of the companies were accessed from the website of Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) https://www.kap.org.tr/tr/ operated by Central Securities Depository (in Turkish: Merkezi Kayıt Kuruluşu - MKK). Since the sector averages obtained from Data Analysis Platform (in Turkish: Veri Analiz Platformu - VAP) system operated by Central Securities Depository (MKK) and the periodic financial ratios obtained from the same system were used in the evaluation of company performances, the formulas for the calculation of the ratios were accessed from the website "https://www.vap.org.tr/" to ensure that the calculated data was consistent. In the light of the obtained data, the ratios were calculated and the performances of the companies were analyzed. Lastly, the financial performances of the companies were analyzed using TOPSIS method over the calculated financial ratios. As a result of the analysis, the companies with the best financial performance between 2016 and 2021 were HEDEF in 2016 and 2017, HUB in 2018, VERUSA in 2019, HEDEF in 2020 and VERUSA in 2021; while the companies with the worst financial performance by years were RHEA in 2016 and 2017, GÖZDE in 2018 and 2019, and RHEA in 2020 and 2021. When we consider the 6-year period, the company with the highest performance is HEDEF, while the company with the lowest performance is seen as RHEA.